Ranch Wife's Slant

Category: Kirk Kids

  • Bringing People Together, Sharing a Meal, & Benefitting Ranchers Affected by Storm Atlas

        A Senior Project Success: When our son Myles said he was thinking about putting on a steak feed to benefit the Rancher Relief Fund for his Senior Project (a fairly new requirement for South Dakota high school graduates), I was very proud that he came up with that particular idea all on his…

  • Haying Lessons

     At the start of haying our son left on an international trip with a group of other teens and it was the ideal opportunity to teach our daughter how to run the windrower and rake hay. The Ford tractor has proven to be a good fit for her to use with the rake (but not…

  • Calving Season Birthdays

    It’s been hard to stay on top of blogging since calving season has started for us so I apologize for the delay. Both my husband and son have birthdays about a week apart at the beginning of our calving season. One of the traditions we’ve carried on from my husband’s youth that’s always made having a…

  • Family Reading

    Reading to my kids is something that I still haven’t outgrown, even though they have. As my kids got older and started school, I couldn’t give up the reading time I shared with them. When they were small, I read a lot of illustrated children’s books to them. Once they learned to read and began…

  • Sixteen Short Years Have Already Gone By

    Sixteen years ago today life as my husband and I knew it was forever changed when we became initiated into parenthood with our firstborn; a son. We had no idea what we were getting into but we’ve been fortunate enough to figure it out fairly unscathed.   Throughout my first pregnancy, the big joke with…

  • What I Made My Kids For Christmas: T-Shirt Quilts

    The one gift I was most excited about giving my kids this year were the t-shirt quilts I made for them. I could hardly wait until Christmas for them to open these gifts. I had wanted to make one for a long time and I’m not sure why I was hesitant. They went together very…

  • The Importance of “Ten Mindful Minutes” For Our Kids

    I have always loved actress Goldie Hawn but now she’s made my list of women I admire. A book called “Ten Mindful Minutes” caught my eye at our local library one day and was surprised that Goldie was the author. Idecided I better check her book out for two reasons: because she wrote it, and…

  • Our Would-Be Millennium Baby

    The due date of our second child was January 1, 2000 and by the second trimester I got really tired of hearing “Oh! Maybe you’ll have a millennium baby!” I was supposed to have a “Millennium Baby” but she arrived three weeks early instead.   Naturally, I wanted the same doctor who delivered our first…

  • The Longest Short Stretch of Highway For A Mom

    I really have no reason to show you this stretch of highway other than to say that this is where a little Love and Logic took place with my kids once years ago. Before I share my Love and Logic moment, let me back up. If you’re not familiar with Love and Logic, it’s a…

  • Pledging Character Building

    In honor of National 4-H week I thought this column was appropriate for the occasion. The words of the 4-H Member’s Pledge are important for all youth in today’s society. Raising good and caring citizens while still protecting kids from an era of new dangers has become increasingly challenging for parents. “I believe in 4-H…